In the end, this script proved to be thoroughly predictable

Ray Ratto

Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 12, 2004

Photo: MARK J. TERRILL

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Cal's A.J. Diggs reacts after they turned over the ball in the closing seconds against Oregon in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament, Thursday, March 11, 2004, in Los Angeles. Oregon won the game 87-82. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) less

Cal's A.J. Diggs reacts after they turned over the ball in the closing seconds against Oregon in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament, Thursday, March 11, 2004, in Los Angeles. Oregon won the game 87-82. ... more

Photo: MARK J. TERRILL

In the end, this script proved to be thoroughly predictable

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Well, Stanford's cured. And Cal isn't. Same as it ever was, as the prophet sayeth. Same as it ever was.

The Cardinal and Golden Bears played out their respective seasons in context Thursday, which was all well and good for the left side of the bay, but one last boot in the snoot for folks who live in the Nickel-Dime area code.

Stanford choked the life out of the same pesky Washington State team that it barely beat a week ago, a slow, agonizing show that, when placed in contrast with St. Joseph's 20-point loss to Xavier in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament, reminded anyone inclined to doubt the Cardinal that there aren't a lot of realistic alternatives.

Cal, on the other hand, showed one final time that winning with a freshman nucleus is way harder than it looks, falling to an Oregon team that was a better matchup for the Golden Bears than nearly any team other than Stanford.

The Bears ended up a profoundly disappointing 13-15 -- profoundly disappointing both for themselves, since they can't even inflate the importance of the NIT, and for those who believed they could reload rather than rebuild. They came in to the season as West Coast media darlings, and went out ... well, with their mothers still loving them, for what that's worth.

They couldn't even say they got to the second round and lost to one of the best teams in the country, which they would have been able to claim had they gotten around the Ducks. The Goldens harbored hopes of getting another crack at Stanford, a team it scared in Maples Pavilion in January, and with a win would have not only irritated their rivals but enhanced their own chances at a postseason berth.

And the Cardinal didn't need to be facing any more emotionally geeked-up opponents before the NCAA Tournament, thank you very indeed.

But Cal couldn't close the deal against Oregon, so they closed the deal on a season coach Ben Braun will try mightily to forget, lest the Telegraph Avenue Irregulars spend the summer reminding him.

There is, though, good news for the Bears. With everyone watching Stanford, Cal may be able to buy a few weeks of blessed silence, out of sight and out of mind.

This was the first Braun team that so badly shorted its supporters' expectations, with youth, a lack of cohesion and all-around stars-in-their- eyes conspiring to damn them to maddening mediocrity. Whether Cal should have been better is an open question. But 13-15 is what the Golden Bears were, and on merit.

Thus, the Bears could use some peace and quiet from prying pens and microphones, and strangely enough the best way for them to get that is to have Stanford roll on through the NCAA Tournament.

If this seems counterintuitive to you, it's only because it is. Cal fans would rather put their feet in a wine press than watch Stanford fans enjoying themselves, a congenital condition for which the only cure is to move across the country and tell people they graduated from UC Davis.

Truth is, Stanford has been the more dominant basketball program for all but the Jason Kidd years, going back a good 15 years. Even those who burned with optimism's flame for the Golden Bears this year knew that Stanford was better, quicker, deeper and tougher. To believe otherwise was a sucker's bet.

And the better Stanford got, the quieter Cal fans became. The last stroke might have been the Cardinal's dispassionate hammering of the Golden Bears at Cal last month, a brutally clinical dispatching that said everything Cal fans needed to know, even if they didn't want to.

It also signaled the beginning of the end for the Golden Bears, who never really found their stride after that loss. Thus, when they finished up their season Thursday with an errant pass sailing out of bounds to assure Oregon's 87-82 win, one could lift one's ear to the winds and hear a million Cal fans groan in unison, "Typical."

In the meantime, those so inclined could also listen for the Stanford fans saying the very same thing. The top seed in the West Regional, and the reward of minimal travel (Seattle, then Phoenix, then perhaps San Antonio), is there for the Cardinal, either assured or, at the very worst, one win away, tonight against the Ducks.

Two seasons, playing out in March as they showed in January. Same as it ever was, indeed.